


Project Christmas Cookies Is A Go

by Dpanda_17



Series: Project Christmas Cookies Trilogy [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Has a Crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Flustered Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Late Night Conversations, Love Confessions, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Nino Lahiffe Ships It, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Supportive Nino Lahiffe, We Are All Alya Césaire, platonic ladynoir, slightly aged up characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27950585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dpanda_17/pseuds/Dpanda_17
Summary: Adrien Agreste is hella flustered. Marinette is confused. Nino is being the perfect wingman and Alya is trying her hardest not to spill the beans. Ladybug and Chat Noir are the best of friends. What happens when all of that mixes with Christmas cookie making? A whole lotta fluff.Characters are all 17 and in their last year of lycée. Includes a ton of Adrinette and platonic LadyNoir :)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Series: Project Christmas Cookies Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163348
Comments: 9
Kudos: 103





	Project Christmas Cookies Is A Go

**Author's Note:**

> A holiday story from me to you. Happy holidays and enjoy!

Some would say that he was blushing, others would say that the bright pink that tinged his cheeks was from the temperature of the café he, Marinette, Alya, and Nino were dining it. Although the restaurant was unusually cold, it was not the reason why he looked like his cheeks were tattooed pink. Adrien Agreste was deep in the hole that is love.

Nino had occasionally been shooting quick glances at his best friend, aware of his lovestruck gaze toward the unnoticing Marinette. Nino chuckled internally, finding it rather ironic that Adrien was eyeing the girl who used to have a crush on him. Alya seemed to notice too, as she would constantly signal Marinette to talk to her admirer, but whenever her blue eyes made contact with his, they subconsciously quickly darted in another direction. The thing is, Adrien didn’t notice he was staring at Marinette either.

They ate their food, indulging in constant conversation throughout their entire lunch period. They were in their last year of lycée now, meaning that they could spend their lunch hours off-campus as long as they came back once the following period commenced. For this, Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien were severely grateful–that and the fact that French schools had two-hour lunch periods. They had twenty minutes left before they needed to head back and were still in the process of finishing their meals.

Alya and Nino were nonverbally speaking to each other amidst their conversation, mostly remarks on Marinette and Adrien, who, despite Marinette’s surrender on persuing the blond, still believed that they were destined to end up together. Some of their teasings were spoken, however, the comments making the two so red they could rival Ladybug’s suit.

A few years ago when he first met her, Adrien would’ve rolled his eyes at the remark and laughed it off. Now, it had been four years, and being with Marinette didn’t seem as outlandish to him as it did then. 

As he looked at her, he couldn’t help but get sucked into her eyes, mesmerized by her kind smile, observing the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed. Her bangs were tucked behind her ear, some shorter pieces framing her face. Her hair was definitely much longer now, but in his opinion, her longer raven locks suited her much better. She looked older, much more mature than when they were fourteen. It was either the years treating her well or the fact that she was always this beautiful, but Adrien never paid attention to it. If he hadn’t noticed staring at her before, he definitely noticed now.

_Why am I thinking about how soft her hair looks and how heavenly it would be to run my hands through it?_

“Adrien!” His eyes darted away from her and toward Alya, who had apparently been trying to grab his attention for several minutes. “Are you alright?”

Adrien nodded, realizing it was Marinette who was consuming his thoughts. This occurred to him as rather odd, considering she was ‘just a friend’.

“Are you ready to go?” Marinette asked the baffled blond as they picked up their belongings.

“Yeah, um, how much do I owe? You know, for the bill?”

“You were taking so long, I paid your part of the bill. You owe me eight dollars.” Nino huffed.

They stood up, and with an apologetic smile on his face, Adrien pulled the sum of money out of his wallet and handed it to his friend. “Sorry, I’ve just been out of it today,” his eyes darted to Marinette, who was putting her purse on. “I’ve had my mind on… other things.”

Alya raised an eyebrow, a prominent smirk on her face. “You mean a certain girl that just happens to have, brilliant blue eyes…” her voice was lowered as she spoke, but the teasing tone was painfully evident. “…an unlimited amount of pastries at her disposal, an incredible sense of design, and, not to mention, the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard…” Wow. If Alya wasn’t dating Nino, he would have suspicions of her having a crush on Marinette based on that description.

Adrien’s face burned a bright shade of crimson. She was on to him, that much was clear. But the number of hoops she would jump through to achieve her final goal of Adrienette was a mystery yet to be solved. He gulped, tugging on the ends of his jacket as the temperature started to increase.

“What? No!” He scoffed, trying his best to convey his transparent lie. “She and I are just great f-friends. Super great. Yeah. That’s what we are. Best friends. Yep.” Inexplicably, it was hard to push out the term ‘friends’, and part of him wanted to bury himself alive after saying it.

“Dude, you can’t be serious,” Nino uttered as they walked out the door.

“There’s no way you don’t have a crush on her.” Adrien glanced back at Marinette who was laughing with Alya. He loved that laugh more than anything.

Her vision caught in his gaze, he examined the way the cold December air tickled her nose, little clouds of vapor escaping from her mouth as she talked. Her black boots crunched against the icy snow as they walked down the sidewalk. He didn’t pay attention to the dopey smile on his face, or the fact that the back of his head bumped into a streetlamp. He did, however, feel the sharp pain and hear the giggling from the girls walking in behind him.

When they started walking again, Nino grabbed Adrien’s focus and proceeded to establish his claim.

“See that, lover boy? You can’t not have a crush on her. You look at her like she’s your entire world.” His entire world. He had only ever resonated that with Ladybug, but he had gotten over her two years prior. Designating that feeling with Marinette didn’t feel wrong in any way. And that’s what started bugging him.

Even though both Alya and Nino were certain that he was in love with her, identifying the symptoms since the beginning of September when they came back to school. A small, innocent crush snowballed into full-blown love, something that Adrien couldn’t hide for much longer. After all, it had been four months, and unless he wanted to pull a Marinette and keep his crush a secret for several years, he would admit it at some point.

He, in all honestly, had his speculations, especially considering how flustered he seemed to become around her. His flirtatious and cocky attitude resided with Chat Noir, not Adrien, and he was unable to think straight or talk in comprehendible sentences. He had even hesitated when cracking puns in front of her, and if that wasn’t a problem, he didn’t know what was. Especially after internally wincing whenever he referred to her as a friend, his mindset started to change. Maybe all friends’ speculations were true and he had a massive crush on Marinette.

“I don’t know, dude,” He glanced back at her, then met his eyes with his best friend’s. “But she’s amazing.”

Nino swung his arm around Adrien, chuckling along with it. “You sweet, innocent, oblivious little–but not really because you are like two inches taller than me– cinnamon roll.”

“Shut up,” Adrien scoffed, waving off Nino’s words. “You couldn’t talk around Alya during your first year together.”

“So it is love then!” He stuck his hand up like he was shouting ‘eureka’ and laughed heartily, which caught several stares from passersby.

“What, your love for croissants?” Marinette giggled from behind, taking the boys’ entire conversation severely out of context. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s no secret.” 

“I’ve seen him look at croissants the same way Ivan looks at Mylene,” Alya chimed in, only contributing to Marinette’s outrageous giggles.

“Ha, ha,” Adrien deadpanned, glaring at the snickering girls behind him. Despite being slightly annoyed at her, the sound of Marinette’s sweet laughter warmed his heart against the winter winds. He could listen to that sound for hours and never get bored. Like a song that he just fell in love with and could play for hours.

***

“Chat? Is everything alright?” Ladybug glanced at her superhero partner, eyeing his dazed countenance. She took another sip of her post-patrol hot chocolate, a tradition she and Chat Noir created nearly a year prior.

“How’s it going? You know, with the guy you like?” He asked, ignoring her question.

“We aren’t dating.”

“No, what did you feel when you first fell in love with him?”

“New crush, Chaton?” Ladybug wiggled her eyebrows as he nervously rubbed the back of his forehead. Sheepishly shrugging, he stared down at his feet, watching them dangle against the edge of their rooftop rendezvous.

“Answer the question, please,” He muttered, talking loud enough so she could barely hear it.

“Chaton, everyone experiences love in different ways. If you think you really have feelings for this person, you can’t deny it! Like when you had a crush on me, are you punning? Nicknames?” 

“My civilian self is not nearly as confident as my superhero self. I get flustered and I’m unable to speak coherent sentences, I lose track of everything around me when I look at her, and my heart is pounding out of my chest. My friends yelled at me three times today because I was caught staring at her.”

“Oh, kitten, this is the worst case of love-itis I’ve ever seen, and that’s coming from me: the person who had been in love with someone for three years and couldn’t work up the nerve to tell them.”

“Had?”

“I gave up on him and realized I liked another guy. I dated the other guy for a few months and then we realized we weren’t meant to be together,” she explained simply, a fond smile on her face. She quieted down for a moment, deep in thought. Averting his gaze from his electric green eyes, She said, “About your crush, ask her out, as friends, if you’re too scared to ask her as more. I’m sure she wouldn’t be opposed to that. Then maybe you could tell her.”

Chat Noir took a deep breath as he evaluated his options. “I’m still not sure if I want her to be more than my friend.”

“Be honest with yourself, Kitty, you love her! What do you like about her?”

“I like that she is kind, funny, adorably clumsy,” he chuckled softly, reminiscing on the times she would stammer or stutter around him. Those days were long gone, but the blush dusting her face was the cutest thing he had ever seen. “She has the most gorgeous laugh, and her smile could brighten anyone’s world. I love the way she puts her head on my shoulder when we are hanging out and she is tired, and how she always smells like cinnamon and vanilla. She makes me instantly cheerful and sometimes calls me just to check if I’m doing alright. There was this one time I had a nightmare and I called her, and she picked up and we just talked for the rest of the night without realizing it was turning to morning. Just the sound of her voice made all my fears go away–”

Ladybug stared at him, her lips curled into a slight smirk. She listened to him continue, “There was another time when she started dating someone else, and I was quite supportive of her and him, but there was a churning in my gut whenever they were together. It was unexplainable at the time, but…” His eyes shot wide, his face turning a deep shade of crimson.

“Holy, shit. I love her.” Turning around to face Ladybug, who had a pleased grin on her face, he shook her shoulders in delight. “I LOVE HER! I REALLY LOVE HER!”

“Finally you understand, you dork,” she giggled, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

***

“Oh, sunshine,” Alya snickered the next morning when she, Nino, and Adrien were chatting. “You just realized?” 

“Shut up, we need to help the little guy, he’s in love!” Nino interjected, fully aware that Adrien was both older and taller than the both of them. Nino squished Adrien’s noticeably less chubby cheeks that flattened with age.

“Love shmove, Marinette has given up him for years! Especially after she broke up with Luka, her romantic feelings for you have been nonexistent!” She countered, fear tanging her voice. “I really want you two to get together, but you’ll be really hurt if she turns you down.”

Adrien’s face fell as he stared down at his sneakers. “She used to be in love with me?”

Alya and Nino exchanged nervous glances at each other, afraid to say a single word. It was all the answer Adrien needed. “I’m an idiot.”

“Hey, it’s just bad timing! It’s not entirely impossible that she’ll say no.” Alya chimed in, reassuringly patting Adrien’s shoulder. “If you want, I can ask Marinette a hypothetical–”

“No! Don’t do that!” Adrien interjected. “She’ll be onto us and that can end really badly. I’m going to tell her myself. I don’t know how or when, but I’m going to do it.” He poked Alya in the chest. “That means you have to keep it a secret.”

“Well, you gotta do something, unless you want to pull a Marinette and not tell her anything for three years,” Nino added, a hopeful grin on her face.

Adrien gulped. That was the last thing he wanted to do. “I got advice from… a friend and they told me that I should ask her out as a friend and tell her later. Maybe we could… go to the movies?”

“Nope, you won’t be able to talk to her at all,” Alya warned.

“Movie at home?”

“Not just that. You’ll need something else as well.”

“Dinner?”

“Too formal for just being ‘a friend’.”

“Ice skating?”

“That’s where she broke up with Luka, and I doubt that’s where you should ask her to be your girlfriend.”

“What about baking?” Nino suggested. “Marinette loves it, and she’s really in her element when she does. It’s either that or designing, but I doubt you guys will want to sit a room sewing all day.”

“Damn, Nino, how do you know so much about her?” Alya bewildered, surprised by his shockingly good idea.

“I’ve known her way longer than you two have. Mind you, I’m her childhood friend.” He shrugged, unphased by Alya and Adrien’s shocked faces. “Adrien, ask her if she wants to bake Christmas cookies with you.”

“But Christmas is next week! And I have photoshoots and Chinese and piano and…” His voice trailed off, searching mentally through his calendar for even an hour off.

“Dude, you have to ask her, even if it’s just for half an hour. That’s still enough time to confess,” Nino agreed, an optimistic expression on his face. He looked over at his girlfriend, who was still not entirely convinced. Adrien felt his burst of sanguinity dwindle down again. No one knew Marinette better than Alya, and the fact that she wasn’t persuaded brought a sour taste to his tongue.

_This isn’t going to work out, this isn’t going to work out, this isn’t going to work out, this isn’t going to work out–_

“I think it’s a great idea. We’ll call it Operation: Christmas Cookie!” She concluded, a sure smile on his face. Nino gave a nod confirming that he liked it. “But I’m still not sure she’s going to say yes to being your girlfriend. As I said, I could ask her indirectly–”

“No! As I said, it’s a chance I need to take, and I will take.” Adrien took a breath. “Besides,” his breaths got faster and faster, each one less controlled than the one before. “what do I have to lose?”

Many things. His friendship with her, primarily, but he pushed the negative thoughts out of his brain. It seemed torturous to have to keep it in for so long, and he just wanted to get it out. Moreover, it was the holiday season. Time for Christmas miracles, right? The way this was heading, he was in desperate need of one.

“Hey!” He heard Marinette’s cheerful voice rang through his ears, a shiver being sent down his spine. Just the sight of her made him weak at the knees. How had he not noticed this before?

“I had a lot of studying to do last night because, you know, math final tomorrow!” She nervously laughed, settling down in her seat next to Alya.

“And I lost track of time and fell asleep at my desk and didn’t wake up until twenty minutes ago!”

“Girl, how are you still functioning?” Alya sneered, eyeing the large cup of coffee in front of her adorable best friend.

Adrien caught himself staring again.

“Coffee is my best friend.” she looked at the three of them as they were all on the verge of hysterical laughter.

“After you guys, of course. I’m sad that this is the only class I have with all of you guys.”

They murmured in agreement as Mme. Bustier walked in and began class. It was a good thing that Marinette sat behind him because if not, there would be zero chance of Adrien being able to focus.

Class ended as excruciating slowly, each second longer than the last. Adrien could barely focus on the literature lesson at hand, not while his crush was sitting behind her, and scary thoughts lurking in the corner of his mind. No, he had to do this. He had to ask Marinette out.

He raced out of the classroom behind her, clutching onto her shoulder in a desperate attempt to gain her attention. She turned around, startled, as his face flushed red. His eyes darted over to Alya and Nino, both shooting him supportive glances.

“Adrien?” Marinette asked, rather confused. “Do you need something or…”

“You, uh, do you want to do something? Like, um, maybe bake Christmas cookies? I’ve always wanted to do it, but it’s… it’s really a lot less jolly when you do it by yourself…”

“Oh, Adrien, you’ve never baked Christmas cookies before?”

“I used to. With my mom.”

Her eyes widened, undoubtedly saddened by that news. How had they been friends for four years and she’d never known he liked to bake cookies with his mom? “Tell you what. We can make some at my house. When do you want to?”

“Father overwhelmed by schedule with my photoshoots and other stuff. And he’s not going to be home on Christmas Eve–”

“Christmas Eve it is! And since your father won’t be home, I insist you stay for dinner. Maman and Papa will be more than happy for you to join us.”

Adrien’s eyes brightened. “Really?”

She nodded, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. “Really.” 

“Thank you, Mari.” His heart jumped out of his chest. Was it human to feel this much love for one sole person?

Operation Christmas Cookies was officially a go.  
  
***

“This is going to be a disaster!” Adrien wailed to the little black kwami of destruction flying around the room. “I can’t even form coherent sentences around her, she apparently loved me years ago but now those feelings are only platonic, and I could be ruining our entire friendship! Also,” he looked over at the small gift packet, tag labeled with Marinette’s name. “is my present a bit too forward?”

“No it's not, and you’re just being dramatic,” Plagg deadpanned, nibbling on a slice of cheese. Despite how supportive he sounded, his tone was anything but. “Just tell pigtails you love her. It’s not that hard.”

“I’m not being dramatic,” he grumbled, running his hands through his hair. After three hours of looking through clothes in his closet, he was able to settle on a sweater vest over a button-down shirt and jeans. Maybe it was just the nerves speaking, but he felt the need to dress nice in spite of being rather casual in regards to their friendship. He checked the time, his heart pounding against his lungs.

“Time to go.” He picked up his gift for her and stuffed it in his coat pocket.

The Dupain-Cheng bakery was bustling with last-minute orders, people coming and going in a rush. Yet, it still prevailed to carry its signature warmth against the snow-coated sidewalks and the spine-chilling winds. Whiffing in the smell of freshly baked pastry, he exchanged pleasantries with Tom and Sabine, trying his best to hide his reddening face. However, due to their knowing smiles when they exchanged glances, he knew that they caught him red-handed.

Marinette was in the kitchen prepping the ingredients and waved eagerly to him as he walked in.

“Hey, fancy,” she giggled, tying an apron around her sweater. It was pink, her name embroidered on it. She patted a lime green apron that he assumed was for him, so he eagerly took it.

“Hi.” He gazed over at the various sugars, flours, butter, chocolate chips, and everything that his father and dietician would not approve of. “So what do we do first?” He asked as he tied the straps.

“First we have to do the boring stuff like preheating the oven and prepping the cookie sheet. Can you set the temperature to 177 degrees?” (A/N–350 degrees Fahrenheit for my American readers. France uses Centigrade.)

Adrien stared at the oven as if he had never operated one in his life. “Uh…” He chuckled sheepishly. “How do you do that?”

“Adrien Agreste!” She pouted as she showed him how to do it. “You’ve never even preheated an oven before?”

“I’ve never had to. Even when I did use to bake with my mother, she did all of that stuff.”

“Oh, you poor child.” She laughed as she grabbed his hand and brought him back to the kitchen island. Her skin was soft, like… butter. Adrien never wanted to let go. “Here, I’ll help you make the batter.” They precisely measured the wet ingredients then poured them into a bowl. Then it was time for the dry ingredients. Every time their hands touched or Marinette’s eyes met his, a shiver ran down Adrien’s spine.

Enthusiastic to carry forward, he picked up the bag of flour, its heft weighing Adrien down despite his better-than-average strength thanks to being Chat Noir. He stumbled as walked from the counter to the island, finally tripping over his own shoelace and spilling flour onto Marinette. She stood, frozen in her spot as she stared at him.

“Oh my god, Marinette, I’m so sorry I–” His apologetic rambling was cut off by her burst of laughter. He watched her, puzzled as she took the bag of flour from him and placed the lightened bag on the island where they were working. 

“Adrien, we were supposed to measure the flour on that counter!” she wheezed. “It was too heavy!”

“You’re telling me,” he chuckled. “You’re not mad, are you?”

“I’m not mad, Adrien. We’re baking! We are bound to get a little messy.” She rolled her eyes like she was pointing out the most obvious detail in the world. She turned away, no longer facing him. “Besides. It gave me the perfect opportunity to do this!”

Grabbing a fistful of flour, she launched it onto Adrien’s apron, dusting it to be as white as the snow falling outside. The laughter that escaped their mouth was the product of the full-fledged flour war that escapaded, leaving the floor, countertops, and themselves covered in the white powder. They fell to the ground, realizing that none of the flour was contributed to the cookies. Dusting themselves off, they struggled to regain steady breathing.

“Gosh that was fun,” Marinette breathed.

“Yeah, it may sound ironic, but I can’t recall the last time I felt this merry on Christmas.”

Marinette sighed, her expression growing more melancholy from his words. “Adrien, when’s the last time you spent the holidays with your father?” He looked down.

“I haven't since collége.” His voice broke.

And so did Marinette’s heart.

“You know what? Screw him, he doesn’t even know what he’s missing!” She took his hand, pulling him up and wiping the flour off his face. “You can come here every year if you’d like. You’re always welcome.”

“Thank you,” he whispered, staring down at the dusted countertops. He felt his heart thump at the sound of her voice. “I suppose we should get this cleaned up?”

“We should. Let’s finish the cookies, get this cleaned up, and then we can head up to our room and clean ourselves up.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Thirty minutes later, the cookies were in the oven, and the mess in the kitchen was cleaned up. Adrien and Marinette, however, were not. Sabine and Tom walked upstairs having just closed the bakery early for Christmas Eve.

“Marinette, darling, thank you for helping us bake those pastries this morning,” Tom said, going in for a hug but stopping after noticing the flour decorating her clothes.

“Adrien, how are the cookies going?”

“Put them in the oven ten minutes ago, Monsieur Dupain,” he responded, a shy smile on his face.

“I told you, you can just call me Tom, son.” The referral as ‘son’ and the warm smile Tom gave off filled Adrien’s heart with an emotion he hadn’t felt since his mother died.

“The kitchen is spotless!” Sabine gushed. “But you two…”

“We’re going upstairs to clean ourselves up, Maman, don’t worry,” Marinette explained, grabbing Adrien by the arm and dragging him upstairs.

“Come down quickly! Christmas Eve dinner is served at 7 pm sharp!”

Marinette shut the door behind them as Adrien sat down on her chaise. Awkwardly fidgeting with his pants, he watched as Marinette jumbled through her closet. She pulled out a towel and threw it to Adrien. He dusted the flour out of his hair, taking off his apron and sweater vest. Thankfully, his shirt was, for the most part, flour-free.

“I’m happy your parents don’t mind I’m intruding on your Christmas Eve dinner,” he filled the empty air with his words. “I can’t imagine what I would be doing if I was at home.”

_Probably watching Christmas romcoms and then wishing you had that as your reality with Marinette, you lovesick dork._

Adrien could hear Plagg’s teasing words from his coat pocket that rested on Marinette’s desk chair.

“I’m glad you came over, and stop thinking you’re meddling! This year was certainly more memorable with you.” She came out of the restroom, clad in a new black sweater tucked into a plaid pleated skirt that reached her knees. Her hair was pulled out of the two braids she wore previously and down, loose waves cascading down to her mid-back. She wore a plaid patterned headband in her hair as well as black socks.

“Marinette…” he whispered as she sat down next to him. “You’re beautiful.” They were so close that he could feel his hot breath on hers. She smelled like cookie dough and chocolate courtesy of their baking endeavors.

“Thank you,” she replied, her hand inching toward his. Sweat collected at the base of his neck in response to the action. Was he really seconds away from doing what he had both dreaded and anticipated for days? Yes, yes it was. If Adrien was going to be able to choke the words out of his mouth.

“And I have something kinda important to say.” He looked directly into her eyes, awaiting her approval to go on. She nodded, giving him all the answers he needed. “You’ve always been kind to me and cared about me more than anyone in my life ever has. I can’t imagine my life being the same without you in it, even if we did have a rocky start at first.”

She chuckled, scooting a little closer to him. “I like that I can be myself around you, or that you don’t care for my fame or money or jaw-droppingly good looks.” He sported his ‘handsome guy’ look as she sniggered in delight, a wide beam on her face. “And lately, I’ve been feeling different around you, but I didn’t know why until a little while ago. It’s because I love you, Marinette. I think that you’re the most incredible, amazing, and talented girl in the whole world, and that’s also why I’ve been spacing out so much lately and I–”

His words were cut off with a kiss. From Marinette. He was being kissed by Marinette. Adrien swore he felt his soul leave his body and float up to the clouds, yet it wasn’t anything like the movies described. It was sweet, slow, and soft, not like there were fireworks booming between them albeit his heart was booming as one erupted inside it. She let go after a few seconds, her face flushing a bright shade of red.

“I, um, I used to have a really, really, really–and I mean really–big crush on you,” she confessed. “And once I started dating Luka I tried to push them down, but they were never truly gone. I was kidding myself when I told everyone, including myself, that I didn’t feel that way about you, Adrien.” 

“So what does that mean?” He asked, even though he knew full well what she meant.

“It means that I love you too.” She crushed her lips back onto his, this kiss much longer than the first. His hand crawled up into her hair as he reveled in its lusciousness. It really was as soft as it looked.

“I got you something, for, you know, Christmas,” Adrien said once their lips parted. He grabbed the small gift bag he stuffed in the pocket of his coat. “I saw it and thought of you.”

Grinning, she opened the bag and found a velvet box inside. “Adrien, you aren’t proposing to me or something, are you?”

“No,” he laughed. “I don’t think we’re there yet. Now, open it!”

She opened the box to find a necklace with a rose chain, a vine design running across it. The pendant was decorated with cherry blossoms. She gasped as she held it in her hands, reveling in its beauty. “I can’t except this, it’s too expensive,” she said, yet she couldn’t stop staring at it in awe.

“No, take it. You’re my girlfriend now. Let me spoil you, princess.”

Marinette scowled. “Princesses like the ones the princes come and save?”

“Princesses like the ones that take matters into their own hands and are strong-willed and independent.” He clasped the necklace around her neck and kissed the corner of her jaw. “Like you.”

She reached down and touched the pendant. “Thank you, I love it. And, I got something for you, you flirt.” Marinette got off the couch and dug through her closet to pick out a lime green wrapped box.

Carefully ripping through the wrapping, he opened the box to find a black apron. With his name embroidered on it. Like hers.

“Marinette… you didn’t.”

“I did! As soon as I got home on the day I made plans with you, I got to work. And I wanted you to wear it while we made it, but I decided I’d give it to you after dinner. I’m glad I did, otherwise, it’d be covered in flour.”

“Thank you. Merry Christmas, Marinette.” 

“Merry Christmas, Adrien.” He leaned in for one more kiss that was quickly interrupted by Sabine’s summons. “What are we going to tell my parents?”

“Eh, they’ll find out sooner or later. We’ll just wait until they bring it up.”

“Sounds like a plan.” she got off the chaise and headed out the door. “Are you coming?”

“I’ll be right there. I have to wash this lipgloss off.” As soon as she was gone, he grabbed his phone, finding his texting group with Nino and Alya.

**[Adrien]: Operation Christmas Cookies was a success! :D**

He headed out, washing the lipgloss stains off his lips, and joining the rest of the Dupain-Cheng family for Christmas. It was remarkably one of the best ones he’d ever had post his mother’s demise.

But back in Marinette’s bedroom, Plagg, and Tikki were snuggled up on a pillow.

“They did it, they finally got together,” Plagg bewildered like a proud father.

“How long has it been? Four years?”

“Just wait until Adrien finds out that he fell in love with Marinette twice,” Tikki mirthfully added.

“Eh, these two dorks were made for each other.” He glanced over at the little red kwami sitting beside him.

“Merry Christmas, sugarcube.”

“Merry Christmas, stinky sock.”

The snow softly flurried onto the streets of Paris as the holiday lights glimmered brightly. Carolers took their rounds spreading Christmas cheer, and the laughter of little children playing and impatiently awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus echoed throughout the city. Families, bonded by love, were together, eating to their heart’s content or enjoying movies by the fire. Whatever it was, the magic of the season had something in store for everyone. 

And for Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, two unsuspecting teenagers? It was love that could conquer any obstacle, whether they knew it yet or not. But that’s a story for another time.


End file.
